Conventionally, there has been a sunroof apparatus adapted to close a roof opening of a vehicle with two panels of a front panel in forward and a rear panel in rearward (see Patent Literature 1).
In this sunroof apparatus, a pair of guide rails is provided below both of right and left sides of the front panel and rear panel, and a front panel actuator for moving the front panel up and down and back and forth is provided between the guide rails and the front panel, and a rear panel actuator for moving the rear panel up and down and back and forth is provided between the guide rails and the rear panel.
The front panel actuator includes a front slider for moving up and down a rear portion of the front panel in the front portion of the roof opening by moving back and forth and moving the front panel back and forth in a tilted-up state of lifting the rear portion of the front panel and further includes a front timing member that is engaged with a front engagement member provided in a guide rail side during up-and-down movement of the front panel so as to restrict the back and forth movement of the front panel and that is disengaged from the front engagement member so as to be moved back and forth together with the front slider when the front panel is moved back and forth.
The rear panel actuator includes a rear slider for moving up and down the rear panel in the rear portion of the roof opening by moving back and forth and moving the rear panel back and forth in a lift-down state of entirely lowering the rear panel and further includes a rear timing member that is engaged with a rear engagement member provided in a guide rail side during up-and-down movement of the rear panel so as to restrict the back and forth movement of the rear panel and that is disengaged from the rear engagement member so as to be moved back and forth together with the rear slider when the rear panel is moved back and forth.
The paired guide rails include a pair of guide grooves internally and externally extending in a lateral direction in a lower and upper portion thereof. The front slider and rear slider are provided with sliding shoes slidably fitted to the lower guide grooves of the guide rails so as to be supported by the guide rails in a manner of being movable back and forth.
The front timing member is provided in a back-and-forth intermediate portion of the front panel actuator, and the front engagement member is positioned in a back-and-forth intermediate portion of the front panel in a fully closed state that the front panel and rear panel close the roof opening and is arranged within the upper guide groove outside in the lateral direction of the guide rails so as to be fixed to the guide rails.
The rear timing member is provided in a front end side of the rear panel actuator, and the rear engagement member is positioned in a front end side of the rear panel in the fully closed state and is arranged within the upper guide groove outside in the lateral direction of the guide rails so as to be fixed to the guide rails.
Moreover, in the construction of this sunroof apparatus, after the front panel is moved backward in a tilted-up state so that the front slider is brought closer to the rear slider so as to be coupled thereto, the rear slider interlocked with the front slider is moved back and forth so as to move the rear panel up and down and back and forth. Thus, the front panel and rear panel can be actuated by a single drive motor.
A slider coupling mechanism for interlocking between the front slider and the rear slider is constructed as follows.
A coupling piece provided with a coupling cam groove is provided in the rear portion of the front slider, and a coupling arm is vertically and swingably provided in the front portion of the rear slider so that a coupling pin is provided in the front end of the coupling arm for coupling the coupling piece and the coupling arm by engagement with the coupling cam groove.
The coupling pin is adapted to be engaged with the engagement groove provided in the arm engagement member fixed to the guide rails so as to restrict the back-and-forth movement of the rear slider and the coupling cam groove of the coupling piece of the front slider is fitted to the coupling pin so that the coupling pin is disengaged from the engagement groove of the arm engagement member.
The coupling pin is provided in the front end side of the rear panel actuator, and the arm engagement member is positioned in the front end side of the rear panel in the fully closed state and is arranged within the upper guide groove laterally inward the guide rails so as to be fixed to the guide rails.